Students from two Laois shools take part in alcohol project Reporter: '); Secondary school students in Portlaoise and Clonasee are among 13,000 pupils around Ireland who are participating in Drinkaware’s Junior Cycle Alcohol Education Programme (JC AEP). The programme involves 8-10 lessons delivered on a weekly/fortnightly basis by the trained teacher and to date, 134 schools have undertaken the programme including St Mary’s CBS, Portlaoise, and Clonaslee college. The students will also be taking part in a university study on alcohol education & behaviours. It tracks 1st to 3rd year students’ experiences of alcohol education in Ireland in real-time. As the national charity working to reduce and prevent alcohol misuse in Ireland, Drinkaware commissioned Maynooth University’s Centre for Mental Health and Community Research to investigate the programme’s effectiveness and, in particular, its primary prevention goal to delay the age of first drink.